José García-León, Dean
faculty artist series
Benjamin Verdery, guitar & Friends Wednesday, January 17, 2024 | 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
Leonard Bernstein 1918–1990 arr. Verdery
Sonata for clarinet and piano (1942) I. Grazioso II. Andantino III. Vivace e leggiero Ulysses String Quartet
Fred Hand b. 1947
Theme, Variations, and Finale (2022) Written for Ben Verdery
Sergio Assad b. 1952
New York Sketches (2021) I. Downtown Attitude II. 72nd Street Dakota III. 92nd Street Scherzo Written for Rie Schmidt and Ben Verdery Rie Schmidt, flute intermission
Benjamin Verdery b. 1955
Now and Ever (2008) Hannah Seiden, dance
Bryce Dessner b. 1976
Quintet for High Strings (2018) Written for Ben Verdery Ulysses String Quartet
As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.
Artist Profiles Benjamin Verdery, guitar Hailed for his innovative and eclectic musical career, Benjamin Verdery tours regularly throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, performing at major venues and festivals. As a recording artist, Verdery has released more than 17 albums, some featuring works by leading composers of our time who have created music for Verdery, including composers Martin Bresnick, David Leisner, Frederic Hand, Elizabeth Brown, Dan Asia, Van Stiefel, Roberto Sierra, Aaron Jay Kernis, Hannah Lash, Christopher Theofanidis, Ezra Laderman, Bryce Dessner, Jack Vees, Thomas Flippin, and Ingram Marshall. Verdery has also created and released several exquisitely filmed videos in collaboration with other artists. He has recorded and/or performed with such diverse artists as Andy Summers, William Coulter, Simon Powis, Leo Kottke, Anthony Newman, Jessye Norman, Wayne Escoffery, James Taylor (tenor), Ettore Causa, Paco Peña, Hermann Prey, John Williams, hip-hop artist Billy Dean Thomas, beat box/vocal percussionist Marc Martin, Jiji, Nano Stern, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet.
In 2023, Verdery released A Giant Beside You for ReEntrant/New Focus Records with Ulysses Quartet. Per Kathodik webzine, the recording is “An exciting sonic journey, masterfully led by Verdery.” The album includes Bryce Dessner’s compelling composition Quintet for High Strings, Leonard Bernsteins’s Clarinet Sonata arranged for string quartet and guitar by Verdery, Javier Farias’s Andean Suite, and Verdery’s own About to Fall and A Giant Beside You. Verdery has been commissioned to compose works for guitar solo, duo, large ensembles, and film. His Scenes from Ellis Island, for guitar orchestra, has been extensively broadcast and performed at festivals and universities in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Europe. Since 1985, Verdery has been guitar professor at the Yale School of Music. From 2007 to 2019 he served as Artistic Director of 92NY’s Art of the Guitar series and as producer of his Maui Summer Master Class from 1999 to 2023.
Ulysses Quartet A prolific composer in his own right, Verdery has had many compositions performed, recorded, and published. Several of today’s most renowned guitarists have recorded and performed his works, including John Williams, David Russell, the Assad Duo, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, and Guitar Trek.
The Ulysses Quartet has been praised for their “textural versatility,” “grave beauty,” and “the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve” (The Strad). Founded in 2015, the group won grand prize and gold medal at the 2016 Fischoff National
Chamber Music Competition, first prize at the 2017 American Prize, 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition, 2019 Vietnam International Music Competitition, and second prize in the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. Violinists Christina Bouey and Rhiannon Banerdt, violist Colin Brookes, and cellist Grace Ho hail from Canada, the United States, and Taiwan. They have performed in such prestigious halls as Carnegie Hall, the Harbin Grand Theatre, Jordan Hall, and the Taiwan National Recital Hall. Other notable engagements include CMS Lincoln Center, Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao, Premiere Performances Hong Kong, National Arts Centre, Fundación Juan March, Wigmore Hall, and Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo. Ulysses members were the Lisa Arnhold Fellows, Juilliard’s resident graduate string quartet, from 2019 to 2022. The Ulysses Quartet Foundation believes intensely in the power of music to inspire, enlighten, and bring people together. Ulysses aims to use this platform to raise the voices of underrepresented BIPOC and female composers. The members of Ulysses hold degrees from the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Yale University. The musicians perform on instruments and bows graciously on loan from the Maestro Foundation and private donors. Ulysses is grateful for the support of Shar Music and Connolly Music as YSOA ambassadors.
Rie Schmidt, flute A graduate of SUNY Purchase, Rie Schmidt gave her Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1983 as a winner of the Artists International Competition. She is a member of the Westchester Philharmonic, the American Symphony, and the Riverside Symphony, and has performed with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, Eos Orchestra, and many Broadway shows. Schmidt was featured flutist and dancer in Leonard Bernstein’s Mass that was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She and her husband, guitarist Benjamin Verdery, concertize as a duo throughout the United States and Europe, and have recorded two CDs of music for flute and guitar, Reverie (Sony) and Enchanted Dawn (GRI). Schmidt is a founding member of Flute Force, a flute quartet, which has three CDs, Flute Force (CRI), Pastorale (VAI), and Eyewitness (innova). She teaches at the Suzuki Music School in Westport, Connecticut, and the Allen-Stevenson School and the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Her publications include Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé (McGinnis and Marx) arranged for flute quintet, and Barber’s Adagio (Schirmer Music). Schmidt was the president of the New York Flute Club from 1995 to 1998.
Artist Profiles, cont.
Upcoming Events
Hannah Seiden, dance
jan 19
Renée Fleming Recital, with Gerald Martin Moore, piano Special Event, in partnership with Yale Schwarzman Center 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Free admission; registration required at schwarzman.yale.edu
jan 20
Renée Fleming Masterclass with Yale Opera students Special Event, in partnership with Yale Schwarzman Center 11 a.m. | Morse Recital Hall Free admission; registration required at schwarzman.yale.edu
jan 21
Yale Brass Trio Faculty Artist Series 3 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Free admission
jan 24
Melvin Chen, piano Horowitz Piano Series 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $17, Yale faculty/ staff start at $12, Students start at $8
From Boulder, Colorado, Hannah Seiden is a freelance dance artist based in New York City. She graduated with honors from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a B.F.A. in dance. She has performed both nationally and internationally in works by MICHIYAYA Dance, Sidra Bell, Itzik Gallili, Kate Harpootlian, Stacey Tookey, Ohad Naharin, Shannon Gillen, Larry Keigwin, Merce Cunningham, Sonya Tayeh, and many others. She has danced and choreographed in music videos, films, and ads for numerous artists and companies including Thinx, MAC Cosmetics, and others. Most recently, she finished filming Mean Girls: The Musical. Seiden choreographs and teaches various styles of dance and Pilates to people of all ages around the world.
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